i love bentonite and getting lost

Posted by Alyssa Howlett , Thursday, May 27, 2010 6:26 PM

The past three days I have been out on the field! It has been really cool but really tiring. I have done so many things that I would never do regularly, it has been great. Yesterday, we went to Greybull and looked at the Mesa Verde Formation and I got to use my rock hammer for the first time! It is so fun to beat up rocks! Ha! We mapped it and looked at the formation that we have been learning about. It is really exciting to learn about these things in a book and then actually getting to see them, it is so cool!

Two nights ago, a couple of us decided to go on a hike. We went up the really steep cliff right by our camp that we had been looking at for the past 4 days. It ended up being really steep and kinda scary, but so worth it. The view and the experience was AMAZING! We could see for miles and miles! It was sunset time so we got to see the sun set. Again, so pretty. I was tiered though climbing the side of a steep mountain, I got red mud everywhere! Boots officially not clean anymore! Then we went to the huge chimney rock. It is a huge land mark in this area and I touched it and climbed up a side kinda and did the whole “king of the world” thing. One of the guys climbed up the side a little and then threw down a rock with sweet laminations (strips) in it. We all like ran to the rock and were ooing and awing over it, I love geeking out about rock with these guys, it is great. I don’t feel like the nerd, since we are all nerds! :) After that we mad our way back to camp. On the way back we ending up getting lost in the fields with all the fences and one stream to cross, we ran into some hourses (on the other side of a fense that goodness and it got really dark. On the plus side we could see the stars, and it was AMAZING!!! So pretty! We finally made it to the road after climbing about 4 fences and hiking through fields. Then at 10:30pm (three hours after we left) we made it back to camp! WOW crazy, but so fun, and a great memory.

Yesterday we spent all day in the field looking at one formation, the Frontier. We got the strike and Dip of the rock and then fond the base of the rock formation and started looking at each bed about what it is composed of, and then measuring the thickness of the formation. We got into groups of four, I am with three boys, Derek, Joe, and Anthony. We are such a fun group Joe is crazy. Anthony is hilarious and Derek is really smart, then there is me, the mom. I hold everything and wrangle them together. But intern they look out for me. We climb and slide down a tone of steep beds and they were always making sure I was ok. We ate lunch with a gorgeous view of the Big Horns. I didn’t really think about until I took a second to realize what an experience it was. We did the same thing through 3 members of the frontier formation and then headed home. WE got back and then had homework to do and worked with my group analyzing our notes and drawing the strat column. It was a late night of working. BOOO.

Today was HOT! We were out in the field again all day today Looking at the Gypsum Spring, Sundance, Morrison, and Cloverly Formations. We were in our groups again, Group NINE baby. We covered so much ground today, (climbing up down up across down up across down up down up). It was insane to look back and see how far we went. I was wearing my tank top and then had my t-shirt around my neck. Only my shoulders got a little red. I COATED my body in sunscreen. I am smart. :) The boys found me a flower too! I collected squid fossils and pearl/clam fossils they are cool. And at the end we climbed a cliff covered in Bentinite (which is basically really think mud covered in a crust that looks like grey popcorn. I love Bentinite. I slid/climb the side then at the top Joe and I made a Bentinite Castle as our marker since we have to pick up there tomorrow.

We hoped back in the vans and drove to Dirty Annies and THE BEARD (that is our name for our professor) bought us all ice cream! It was so nice!

We are just hanging out. I am getting used to this and other than some new adjustments some aspects of life, I am really enjoying my time here. It is great and perfect way to spend my summer!